About Jay Stuckey

Jay Stuckey's paintings and collages present snippets from the artist's dreams. Against a monochromatic background, Stuckey offers a selection of isolated scenes to create an effect of unresolved activity threaded with primal emotions like fear, anxiety, and joy. In Charley, a man holds a cat over a toilet, a bug flies into someone's mouth, and two people engage in an awkward dance; all of the figures and forms are rendered in a simple, childlike style that reflects their subconscious origins. Just as dreams present symbols that often confound and can be interpreted in multiple ways, Stuckey sees his works functioning as provocations. “For me the main goal ... is to initiate an idea within the viewer, to have the images ask questions versus posing answers or making statements,” he says.